1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to aircraft and, in particular, to wireless devices in aircraft. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for associating wireless functions with objects in an aircraft.
2. Background
Sensor systems are present in most aircraft. A sensor system contains sensors. These sensors are used to monitor various objects for the aircraft. These objects include, for example, without limitation, an in-flight entertainment system, a hydraulic system, landing gear, a tire, an engine inlet, an actuator, an air vent, a portion of a passenger cabin, a fuel tank, and other suitable types of objects.
The sensors transmit data to a data processing system. The data processing system may then analyze the data or route the data to other data processing systems. For example, the data processing system receiving data from the sensors in the sensor system may route the data to a flight management system. In some cases, the data may be transmitted off the aircraft to a ground location or other aircraft.
In many aircraft, the sensors in a sensor system are connected to the data processing system in the sensor system through wires. With these types of sensor systems, each sensor is associated with an object in the aircraft. For example, different objects may be associated with a functional equipment designator. This type of identifier is typically a letter followed by up to six numbers.
These equipment designators are used in wire diagrams, equipment installation diagrams, block diagrams, wired definition databases, maintenance manuals, and other sources of aircraft information. When a sensor is installed or replaced, the wiring diagrams allow for an association of particular sensors with the object. In this manner, a wire from a sensor to a particular port in a data processing system is used to identify the sensor with the particular object.
With a desire to reduce the complexity of aircraft, the weight of aircraft, and the costs, wired sensor systems, in some cases, have been replaced with wireless sensor systems. With these types of sensor systems, a wireless sensor transmits information to a data processing system in the sensor system through a wireless connection. The wireless connection may be direct or use one or more routers.
With these types of sensor systems, an association of a wireless sensor with a port through a wiring diagram cannot be made. As a result, associating a particular wiring sensor with an object in the aircraft may be difficult to perform such that the identification meets various rules and regulations. As a result, the use of wireless sensors in some portion of an aircraft may be unfeasible without an ability to easily identify information from a particular wireless sensor with a particular object.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that takes into account some of the issues discussed above, as well as possibly other issues.